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WELCOME HOME JOSHUA

Little boy who got life saving transplant from sister back from London

by MARY MAGEE

Julie and Joe Fletcher, Moira, with their son Joshua, 8, who has returned
home after spending eight months in London for a bone marrow transplant.
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THE local boy who received a life saving bone marrow transplant from his
little sister has finally returned home from London, eight months after the
operation that will transform his future.

It is the latest step on the journey eight-year-old Joshua Fletcher has
been on since he was diagnosed with Diamond Blackfan Anaemia, a rare blood
disorder, when he was only six weeks old.

Joshua has now been re-united with his brother Adam (11) and sister
Jodie, who started primary school in September.

He had been expected to come home several months ago with his mum and
dad, Julie and Joe, after making a remarkable recovery described by medical
staff at St Mary's Hospital in London as being one of the 'most trouble free
transplants' they had come across.

However in May he developed a cough which was diagnosed as a
graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a complication of bone marrow transplants
in which immune cells in the transplanted marrow recognise the recipient as
"foreign" and mount an immunologic attack.

Although he recovered well, Julie and Joe will have to keep a watchful
eye for infections.

The family were not even allowed to fly home because of the fear of
picking something up and had to return from London via ferry.

"Joshua has been briIliant throughout and never complained once," Julie
said. "We wanted to get him home desperately, but we wanted him home well."

Now back in Moira, Joshua has been visited by friends and attends the
Royal every Monday to get his bloods checked.

"It was tough for the whole family to be apart during the eight months
but we often saw Adam, who started Wallace in September and Jodie, who
started P1 in Meadow Bridge, every few weeks thanks to my mum and their
aunts and uncles.

"Joshua was in good form most of the time but it was hard for him because
he watched visitors leave and wondered when was it was his time to go home."

Julie says that although Joshua is on the road to recovery she is aware
there could be further setbacks

"We still have to keep an eye on him," she said. "It is likely he will
get a cough because the other children are bound to bring stuff back here
but we are at least at the good side towards the end of this journey. And it
has been quite a journey for us all, but it has been worth it.

"Hopefully we will get back to normality soon whatever normality is now."

The Moira boy has been away from home since the end of January to have
the bone marrow transplant from his 'designer' sister Jodie. The operation
took place on February 10, his eighth birthday.

Joshua was only six-weeks-old when he was diagnosed and had to undergo
blood transfusions every three weeks to keep him alive.

His parents were told the only chance he would survive would be a bone
marrow match. His older brother Adam was not a match and they then had to
fight with the Human FertiIisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) for the
right to use a screening process during IVF treatment which allowed doctors
to select an embryo that was the closest match to their sick son.

As a result their daughter Jodie was born, the UK's first so called
designer baby in July 2005.

In July last year Joshua developed an overload in his liver and Julie and
Joe were forced into the decision to have a transplant.

If all continues to go well Joshua could be back behind his desk at
Meadowbridge Primary School next February when he is expected to come off
medication.